Love to read? Don’t love to read? Only read Bwog? Well, Bwog’s new column BwogBooks seeks to introduce you to some amazing alumni reads!

What do J.D. Salinger, Ottessa Moshfegh, Jack Keuorac, and Elif Bauffman all have in common, (besides obviously being writers)? Well, they all are graduates of Columbia or Barnard in some facet! The university has churned out many Pulitzer, National Book Awards, and hundreds of New York Times Best Sellers. While the university has many book clubs (shoutout to Barnard BookWorms), as a self-proclaimed bookworm, I couldn’t think of a better new column for Bwog than BwogBooks! 

As CU students, we all do a TON of reading, but how much of that reading is actually for fun? I know we all dread the next LitHum or First Year Seminar/Writing chapter that is due, but I think there is truly nothing better than settling down with a good book after a long and stressful week. Books are amazing because they expand our perspectives and allow us to travel to new worlds. By reading CU alum books, we can exercise the school spirit that we often lack and learn in fun and enchanting ways! 

Focused on alumni book publications, I will do a little write-up of the book (without spoilers, obviously) every few weeks (or however often I finish a Barnumbia alum book). Running from self-help to misery-lit to historical nonfiction, BwogBooks will aim to celebrate and highlight alumni writers for their contributions to literature and books. The first book will be one of my all-time favorite books, “The White Tiger,” by Aravind Adiga (CC ‘97), who was salutatorian of his class after studying English literature. Nominated for the Booker Prize, “The White Tiger,” is a masterfully told story about class struggle in an ever-evolving and globalizing world. Stay tuned for the next update and please send me recommendations you would like me to cover at mef2240@barnard.edu! 

Featured image via Author